In the Heart of the Beast is a puppet theater company located in the Avalon theater in Powerhorn. The company describes their mission of using "water, flour, newspaper, paint, and unlimited imagination to tell stories that explore the struggles and celebrations of human existence. Drawing inspiration from the world's traditions of puppet and mask theatre and its lively roots in transformative ritual and street theatre, HOBT creates vital, poetic theater for all ages and backgrounds".
On Saturdays from January through March they host puppetry matinees for kids at 10am and noon. These are reasonably priced ($7 suggested donation, $2 suggested donation for residents of Powderhorn and Phillips Neighborhoods) shows that are presented in English or Spanish. In between the shows they offer a puppet making workshop where kids can make a puppet based on that week's puppet show theme ($5 Children, $3 Adults).
Carrie and I took the kids to their Book Worm Tales show last weekend and it was...odd. Firstly it was hard to locate. Besides the Avalon theater, there really isn’t any signage that would guide you in to the show. For some reason all the doors were locked even though we arrived only 15 minutes before the show. Luckily one of the actors (the sound guy) was nearby and let us in. We immediately entered into a small theater entrance and stood in line to buy our tickets. They had a few puppets on display that were pretty cool. Huge, detailed bird heads lined the entrance. This made me a little excited about seeing a puppet show in such a quaint, little space.
We waited in line behind two other families and for 10 minutes the line did not move. I watched as 10-15 more families scrunched into the tiny entrance and attempted to keep in a line. As we waited, a young girl walked through the line asking patrons to fill out an info card. Confused as to why we would have to fill out a 10-question info card, and having nothing to write on, I did my best to ignore the young woman in hopes that she’d skip me. No such luck. Once I finally reached the counter, I was able to buy our tickets and had space to fill out my info card. I knew the show was just about to start and there were still multiple families waiting to get in, so I rushed through the form, leaving quite a few blanks.
I was able to snag 4 folding chairs in the 10 x 50 ft room for our group to sit. There were benches up front for the kids to get a closer shot of the skit but only our oldest kids were brave enough to sit up front. I say this because the play was about 3 pigeons who explore books from little free libraries and the puppets were, let’s just say, creepy. They were basically sock puppets with plastic beaks.
The show was about 30 minutes which just about matched our kids’ attention span for a creepy puppet show.
While I probably will not be returning to the weekend puppet shows, I do love this company’s creative intention and commitment to homemade puppetry and theater. We will definitely be checking out the May Day parade. Look for our review of this parade in early May.